Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg has the largest delivery clinic in Scandinavia with about 10.000 deliveries a year. From 2009 the use of external aortic compression has been a part of the hospital routine on how to manage PPH.
When the patient arrive at the OR a midwife is sitting in the patients bed performing external aortic compression. Once in a while assistant nurses at OR or anesthetic nurses have to take over and perform the maneuver, but this does not happen frequently. The ExAC Trainer gave them the chance to train on external aortic compression when ExAC visited Sahlgrenska in the beginning of March 2022. This increased knowledge and confidence in how to manage a critical situation like PPH.
At the delivery ward the staff appreciated the chance to practice. Especially the assistant nurses who normally not apply external aortic compression. They want to feel more confident if any acute bleeding occur when they are alone with the patient after delivery.
The week after the training at Sahlgrenska University hospital ExAC received an e-mail from Madelaine Eriksson acting Head of department: "This week we had great use of the knowledge when a patient admitted to OR for uterine evacuation suffered heavy bleeding. Two assistant nurses who had participated in the training took turns in doing aortic compression. Many thanks to the ExAC team for coming to our hospital. Your knowledge has already had an important influence in our organization"